Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H3

Traveling at the speed of styleCrafted from a solid block of aluminum BeoPlay H3 is an ultra-light earphone, carrying forward traditions in acoustics and craftsmanship. It is able to reproduce the original sound material authentically in a design that meets today's demand for style.DESIGNBeoPlay H3 is designed by Jakob Wagner, who finds that one of the challenges of designing earphones is that with objects so close to the face, you get to affect people's personality. Like eyewear, the design of an earphone becomes part of a person's personality, what he or she communicates to the world, and therefore you have to be very conscious of what the design expresses.SOUNDBeoPlay H3 in-ear headphone includes a dynamic full tone sound design integrating a custom-designed 10.8 mm driver providing a surprising sound performance for its size. The acoustic design includes a miniature bass port in an internal cabinet, which provides you with great performance in the low frequencies. BeoPlay H3 embraces the Bang & Olufsen sound philosophy of creating products that are able to reproduce the original sound material as authentically as possible.USEThe round shape seemed at first to be an obvious choice, but after some investigation and a multitude of 3D modelling and testing, it was clear that, as the inner part of the ear is not really round, you have to find a shape that matches the actual shape of the ear better. Also you have to find some common ground to work from as the individual ear shape and size vary almost endlessly.

Recent User Reviews

Cons - Abysmal mfg quality, never seen something so bad out of the box. No support whatsoever.

Believe it or not, I have been following this forum for years, but was too aware of my limitations to post a review or a comment.
I created this account just to warn others of the lame approach that B&O is taking with these headphones when shipped with the LG V20.

Same as other reviewer here, got the headphones with the new phone - which I actually sold, as I didn't want to give up my trusted S7Edge. But I kept the H3s as I absolutely wanted a higher end pair of headphones. I suffer from tinnitus and listening to music is the only solace I find...

What a disappointment...out of the box, the headphones had the dreaded connector problem, where once inserted, they either cause static or cut out a channel.
OK I told myself this is B&O, I'll just sort it out with the manufacturer...same as I've done a thousand times in the past.
So I opened a ticket with B&O, promptly got a drone response that the ticket has been received and the next day...bam: a cold FU, " please contact LG" email.
Wait, what? LG didn't manufacture those, not their problem to solve.
Adding insult to injury, next day I get an email asking for my "customer satisfaction in a survey". Is it just me, or this company is laughing at the customer all the way to the bank?
I manage a support group for a hi-tech company, if one of us would do something similar they would be out of a job.

I wish I could comment on the sound quality and the likes, but not being able to get them to work kinda prevents me from doing it...

Before I get flak, I have a dozen other headphones which connect just fine to the S7Edge.

So, so disappointed with B&O which I always kept in high regard when it comes to product design and performance.

EDIT: let me put in a TL;DR, as some people go out with a Bang (no Olufsen) and miss the point usually:

- a premium brand distinguishes itself by product quality and above all, superior customer service. Not just price.
- I didn't "rant" because someone took my toy, but I wanted to flag the fact that B&O is not prepared to stand behind it's "consumer line BeoPlay" because they don't see value in doing so. "Wrong"...
- getting LG to replace the headphones (which I will) does not solve the QC problem at B&O, does it? As one can see here and on Amazon, the connector issue seems frequent - the least I expected is for the manufacturer to want to take a look at the defective unit and draw some design or mfg conclusions which will avoid it in the future. As it stands, what's to say that a replacement won't suffer from the same problem.

I took the scenic route to loving these headphones and almost sold it a couple of times. I picked these up for free thanks to a promotion my carrier Freedom mobile was doing where if you buy the LG V20 phone you get these headphones free.

It was a no-brainer for me as I needed a new phone and could even sell them if I didn't like them. Anyhow on to the review....

Build Quality
Considering the price, the build quality on these is poor. Mine had some finish problems with the connector so there would be static when connecting to or moving the connector to my phone. Thankfully things smoothed out after rolling it around enough and this problem is gone. The back of these is a pleasing solid metal but the front is made of plastic and is a bit thin. So you need to be careful when changing tips. I also had a difficult time with the stock tips. Fit was crappy, either to big or too small and never felt comfortable. My spinFits saved the day tho. To sum, the build quality is way below what you expect at the price these go for normally and an embarrassment to the B&O name.

Sound
I hated the sound from the stock tips, and before the burn-in the sound felt muddy. After 8hr burn in, the sound stretched out and a lovely detail began to reveal itself. Compared with my other regular the Co-Donguri SHIZUKU, these have an entirely different appeal. These headphones really excel in presenting a detailed and intimate sound signature with vocals and string instruments revealed in full glory. The bass is also surprisingly detailed and well extended once you get the right tips. The problem comes in the treble which are slightly rolled off.

Unlike the co-donguri, the soundstage is compressed but because of the detail in the mids and bass the imaging is quite excellent. I really enjoyed the cozy intimate feel of these...perfect for a winter night of listening.

Conclusion
Are they worth it? At $0 dollars absolutely! The LG is an excellent phone so this is a nice cherry on top of that lovely cake. Without the promotion though, I really can't recommend these. The build quality is simply too poor for the price. Still if you can get it cheap, and you love warm, intimate sounding headphones go for it.

Pros - Balanced open sound, decent bass, good fit, plays loud and sound great doing it

Cons - Pricey, May not be the strongest cable and connecters

These headphones have a nice open soundstage for an earbud headphone and are relatively comfortable to wear. The sound does seem to "settle" and refine somewhat after some time of burning in. They sound quite natural and relaxed especially at lower volumes but turn up the volume and these bad boys come alive. I find the slightly flat sound at lower volume levels does pay off at higher listening volume. They are not harsh or fatiguing and very satisfying to listen too.